RED BLUFF &GT;&GT; For the season's inaugural Wednesday night farmers market here this week, the Red Bluff-Tehama County Chamber of Commerce will gauge market-goers' tastes for a beer and wine garden — a first for the market on Washington and Pine streets.

Dubbed the Overtime Canteen, the downtown market's beer and wine garden will showcase craft breweries and local wineries such as Fall River Brewery, Tehama Oaks Vineyard and Winery and the young Tuscan Ridge Estate Winery, which recently celebrated its grand about 15 minutes southwest of downtown Red Bluff.

"We want to try to and help highlight stuff that makes sense for the market," market manager Jason Bauer said. "We want it to be more of a classy thing instead of just somewhere to go have a drink."

For now, the open-air garden, which will be set up at a parking lot on a corner of Washington and Pine streets, is a one-time event. Should the garden prove successful, and any associated problems with serving alcohol are avoided, the chamber may put in a request to hold more gardens at the Wednesday night market this season, Chamber CEO Dave Gowan previously said.

"I am very much hoping and pushing for responsibility and class and quality," Bauer said. "At the same time, it's definitely for people to have fun and have a good time."

The chamber's Wednesday night market is scheduled to run 5-8 p.m. June 18 to Sept. 11. Live entertainment is scheduled each week, and the market will kick off with the 613 Main Street Band taking the stage.

For Bauer, managing both the chamber's Saturday morning market at River Park, which has been hosted the past two weeks, and the Wednesday night market means creating the link from producer to customer.

He said some of the producers who sell at both markets may not be large enough to sell produce at grocery stores, but they can do well at the markets.

"Shopping outside and moving around in the air just is a lot of fun," Bauer said. He added: "I owned a convertible once. And driving with the top down for the first time, that's kind of how these markets are. The wind's blowing through your hair, just a lot of fun, and that's what we like to have — that natural feel."